


Best Laid Plans

by Im_still_waiting_for_the_rain_to_fall



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Green Kryptonite, Hope the AI - Freeform, Lena Luthor Knows Kara Danvers Is Supergirl, Lena plotting revenge, Lena working through her rage, Pain to realisation, Some mild injury warnings, SuperCorp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-12-13 22:29:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21005195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Im_still_waiting_for_the_rain_to_fall/pseuds/Im_still_waiting_for_the_rain_to_fall
Summary: Set somewhere in S5.Lena is still hurt about the way she found out about Kara, and plots her revenge.Hope, the ever helpful AI assists her, but the plan they set for Kara - pretending Lena is kidnapped and held in a location surrounded with Green Kryptonite in order to force the Superhero into revealing her identity to the world and expose Kara's duplicitousness - goes awry when Kara decides to try and rescue Lena anyway.Chained to a chair and forced to watch as Kara's attempt to save her fails, along with the Super's strength; has Lena let things get too far before realising the lengths Kara is truly willing to go through in order to prove how much the CEO means to her.Will Lena have the death of her best friend on her conscience, or will she be able to turn things around in time?Spoiler - no one dies.





	Best Laid Plans

“Miss Luthor, is everything alright?”

** **

The calm, gentle voice she had designed into her AI breaks through the daydream Lena had drifted off into, and she focuses back on her surroundings with a start. 

** **

Gazing about her apartment, the expensive furnishings and trappings evident in every piece she had personally picked out, Lena sighs heavily. “The plan needs to be amended”. 

** **

“It does? Why? I thought Kara Danvers took the bait you set for her?”

** **

“She took it-” grinding her teeth together, Lena stands and walks over to her wet bar in order to pour herself a generous splash of scotch “-just not in the way I expected her to”. 

** **

“I'm not sure I understand. The parameters of your ruse were clear”. Sounding more curious than concerned, Hope's serene tone states. “You pretended to be kidnapped while the kidnappers – me - streamed footage of you, tied up and surrounded with Kryptonite to prevent Kara from rescuing you, demanding that Supergirl reveal her identity to the world or be forced to watch you die”. 

** **

“Those were the parameters. Yes”. Downing the contents of her glass in one go, Lena winces slightly as the hard liquor burns its way down her throat. 

** **

“So what went wrong?”

** **

“What went wrong was....... was Kara showing up and attempting to rescue me anyway”. Sighing heavily, Lena pours another heavy measure before grabbing her glass and returning to sit on her sofa. 

** **

“Kara Danvers tried to save you, even though she knew it meant coming into contact with enough Kryptonite to kill her?” 

** **

The way Hope words the question makes a knot of guilt flare in Lena's stomach, because she had indeed surrounded herself with enough Green K to kill the Superhero. 

** **

At the time she had wanted to not only ensure her ruse looked real and force Kara into obeying her demands, but to also make sure she didn't attempt something as foolhardy as a rescue. Knowing that Alex was part of the DEO and would surely see the footage at the same time as her sister, Lena had convinced herself that Kara would never actually be allowed to show up once she saw the amount of the deadly substance that surrounded her.

** **

“Is she dead then?”

** **

The coolly detached manner in which the question is asked reminds Lena a little too much of Lillian for comfort, and a small shiver runs down her spine as she wonders if she has inadvertently built the world’s first sociopathic AI. 

** **

“No. She isn't dead”. Snapping slightly in response, Lena then pauses to take a deep breath and collect herself before continuing in a much softer voice. “But she very nearly was”. 

** **

“Your response is....mixed, and difficult to analyze. Are you angry that she didn't die, or that she almost did?”

** **

Staring into space, replaying everything that had happened over in her mind yet again as she struggles to make sense of it all, Lena's voice is hardly more than a whisper in the otherwise silent room. “I'm not angry that she didn't die. I'm angry that I still can't work out why she did it”. 

** **

“Can you tell me what happened? I may be able to provide some theories based on your evidence”. 

** **

****

** **

** _Earlier that day_ **

** **

_ Whoosh _

** **

Eyes widening in shock, Lena stares at the sight of her former best friend – clad in the special Kryptonite resistant suit she herself had made - landing in front of her. 

** **

“Kara? What are you doing here?”

** **

Straightening up and looking around cautiously, Kara scans the area for other lifeforms. “What do you think I'm doing here, Lena? I'm rescuing you”. 

** **

“But that... that wasn't the deal!” Aware that her voice has gone slightly high-pitched in her frustration, Lena clears her throat and forces herself to calm down. “The kidnappers told me they took me in order to force you into revealing your identity, and that they planted enough Kryptonite all around this place to incapacitate you should you be foolish enough to attempt to save me”. 

** **

“Yes, well, they clearly didn't factor in your Kryptonite-proof suit”.

** **

Giving her trademark sunny smile, Kara beams at Lena in a way that used to make the dark haired woman's heart feel too big for her chest, but now makes the CEO feel sick to her stomach when she thinks about all the deceit it has masked over the years. 

** **

“Oh, but Kara, they did”. Struggling not to let her true feelings show, Lena arranges a look of frantic worry onto her features as she stares at the confident superhero. “They knew you wouldn't be able to resist playing the hero, it is what you do after all, so released nanobots into the air that are designed to attack the integrity of your suit. You were exposed to them the moment you entered the building”. 

** **

“What?” Eyes going round in surprise, Kara glances around the room as if trying to spot the offending tech before staring at Lena in shock. “How do you...?”

** **

“I overheard them talking after I came around sooner than they thought from whatever sleeping agent it was they gave me when they kidnapped me”. Having readied a story just in case the blonde did indeed attempt a rescue instead of confessing like the coward she is, Lena tells the lie smoothly and convincingly. “You need to leave, Kara. Your suit won't protect you much longer, and once it fails you'll be exposed to lethal quantities of the only thing on this planet that can kill you”. 

** **

Silent for a moment, Lena can see the fear that flashes in Kara's eyes as the uncharacteristically vulnerable woman registers her deliberately pointed words. 

** **

_ That's it Kara, run away. Or should I say fly? Fly away with your tail between your legs, and then do the only thing left to you. Tell the word what a duplicitous wretch you truly are. _

** **

“No”. 

** **

“What?” Blinking rapidly as she tries to process whether she accidentally said her vicious thoughts out loud, Lena's mind whirs with possible ways to explain herself. 

** **

“I said no”. Placing her fists on her hips in her standard Supergirl pose, Kara lifts her chin defiantly. “I'm not leaving. Not without you”.

** **

“Don't be ridiculous. Of course you are”. Catching herself just before the words come out as a scoff, Lena manages to soften them enough to make her denial sound like a plea instead. 

** **

“I'm not leaving you here, Lena. You're my best friend, and I'll always....” Striding towards the bound woman with the intention of breaking her out of her bindings and then getting out of there as fast as she can, Kara suddenly stops in her tracks and looks down at her arm in confusion. 

** **

From her awkward position Lena can't see what is happening to cause the deep frown that has just appeared on Kara's brow, but she can hazard a guess. Judging by the amount of time that has elapsed since Kara's arrival, she would bet money on the fact that her special nanobots have done their job and eaten their way through the thinnest part of the exosuit - the sleeves – meaning Kara has just started to feel the effects of the Kryptonite. 

** **

Watching as the stunned Super runs her hand over the rapidly expanding gap in the barrier between her and excruciating pain, Lena yet again plays the conversation between her and 'Supergirl' over in her mind during the whole Reign fiasco. 

** **

_ “Oh, you have some gall, lying to my face”. _

** **

_ “You know....” Placing the case down on the floor, more abruptly than necessary but with a growing anger at having being called a liar, Lena crosses her arms over her chest to try and control her ire. “I did not lie. This isn't Lex's, it's mine. I figured out how to make it, and I did.  _ ** _And_ ** _ I supercharged it just for Reign””.  _

** **

_ You  _ ** _what_ ** _ ?” _

** **

_ The look she receives in response is one of disbelief; whether from the fact that The Girl of Steel doubts that she managed to work out how to make it all by herself or that she dared to, Lena doesn't know, but the contempt written in her eyes is clear either way, and when she speaks the Super's voice holds no room for argument. _

** **

_ “You are going to turn over the formula to Alex. You are going to take any Kryptonian elements from your lab and bring them to the DEO, and you are  _ ** _never_ ** _ going to make Kryptonite again!” _

** **

_ Once done making her ultimatum Supergirl goes to walk away but Lena, whom by now is riled up by the hypocritical way the 'Hero' is acting, decides to bite back. “You know, I knew this is how you'd react. But James Olsen convinced me that we were on the same side. He thought you'd actually be grateful...” _

** **

_ “You think I should be grateful that you learned how to make the one substance on this planet that can kill me?” This time it is Supergirl that interrupts, her normally sunny disposition replaced by unease, and she looks at the young Luthor with a new wariness in her eyes.  _

** **

_ “Thousands of things can kill me, Supergirl -” practically scoffing at her excuse for being so hostile, Lena shakes her head as she tries to make the invulnerable woman see reason “-and everyone else on this planet. Fire – but we don't go around banning bonfires or candles. Cars kill people every day, and yet we still have the courage to get in one every morning and drive ourselves to work”.  _

** **

_ Staring at the woman in front of her Lena wonders how she never saw this side of her before, and now finds herself agreeing with some of Lex's assessments about Kryptonians.  _

** **

_ “There is  _ ** _one_ ** _ element on the planet that kills Kryptonians, and you can't tolerate its existence”.  _

** **

_ “No...”  _

** **

_ Seeing the Super about to turn away from her, Lena says the thing bubbling way in her brain. The thing she had just agreed with her brother on. “You really do have a God Complex”.  _

** **

_ That does it.  _

** **

_ That stops the blonde hero dead in her tracks, and has her head whipping around to gaze at Lena with an expression of intense hurt painted clear in her eyes. When she speaks, there is a noticeable wobble in her voice, but also a thread of iron. “Do you know what it’s like to walk into a room, and your skin feel like it’s going to be seared off your bones? Or like nails are running through your blood?  _ ** _That's_ ** _ what Kryptonite feels like!” _

** **

_ “Well, I don't know. It sounds  _ ** _exactly_ ** _ like what you need to subdue Reign”. The bite in Lena's voice is more pronounced now, though she keeps her tone lowered to ensure that the conversation – which is being held in the middle of the DEO - remains private.  _

** **

_ A look of anger flares across Supergirl's face and she stoops to pick up the case containing the item they are arguing about. “I need to be the only person in control of Kryptonite on this planet”.  _

** **

_ The irate Super then goes to storm off, but Lena watches as she stops after a few steps and turns back once more. _

** **

_ “You know, even if I did trust you.... even if we were on the same side...., this substance is so lethal to me that I can't risk encountering it by mistake”.  _

** **

Those words, more than any other, had hit Lena the hardest.  **Even if we were on the same side** .

** **

Lack of trust she understood. Lena hasn't had a person, other than Sam and Kara, trust her with anything more important than a pen – without an iron clad contract in place – pretty much her entire life. That came with the territory of bearing the Luthor name. 

** **

Yet, hearing Supergirl infer that they weren't on the same side – which of course implied that Lena was on the wrong side as Supergirl herself was always on the 'right' side, made her think about how Lex used to rant about Superman and his “moral high-ground”. 

** **

It made her wonder if, within her brother's madness, there wasn't some truth to his claims. 

** **

Discovering that it had been  **Kara** questioning her motives and her loyalty that day, as well as being the one to get James to break into L-Corp, during that incident, had been one of the hardest parts of finding out Supergirl's true identity. 

** **

Despite trying hard to forge a new path between herself and the superhero, Lena had known in her heart that there would always be an intrinsic mistrust that ran deeper than either of them could fully wash away. Yet, the knowledge that the entire time they'd been arguing the woman she considered to be the person she trusted more than any other in the world had been the one hiding behind the cape....  _ that _ had shattered Lena's heart more effectively than a thousand assassination attempts by her brother could ever hope to achieve.

** **

It had shone a light on just how effectively Kara had lied to her - breaking her trust as Supergirl, then saying nothing as Lena had spilled her guts about the situation to the woman purporting to be her best friend while knowing full well that she was the one to cause the issues in the first place. 

** **

In Lena's mind, Lex had been right when he'd called her a fool. Kara had strung her along for years with her ridiculous lies, which Lena could now see so clearly after being given the cipher to unlock the code to the puzzle, and she hated herself for not putting the pieces together sooner. 

** **

“Lena.....!”

** **

Pulled out of her musings by the sound of her name the seated woman looks up to find that the majority of Supergirl's exosuit has now vanished, with only the legs still covering the helpless hero. 

** **

Kara herself looks decidedly unwell, with her veins bulging out of her skin and pulsing a bright green, which makes Lena once again think of the description the Superhero had thrown at her during their animated discussion. 

** **

_ Do you know what it’s like to walk into a room, and your skin feel like it’s going to be seared off your bones? Or like nails are running through your blood? _

** **

At the time, Lena had been too pissed off to ponder much on the words, and the exosuit had been made purely because Lena was the kind of woman that took precautions – if she was going to make Kryptonite then she was going to make a suit to protect Earth's champion from it (she just didn't feel like sharing that tidbit of information during their disagreement). 

** **

Here and now though, bearing witness to how Green K really affected Kryptonians, Lena has to admit that she can see why Kara has such an adverse reaction to people owning it. 

** **

“Lena, we need to get you out of here”. Talking through gritted teeth, Kara forces herself to take several paces forward. 

** **

Each step is ponderous, as if her feet are encased in weighted boots far too heavy for her, and she is exerting all her energy just to drag each foot one pace closer to Lena. The devious CEO knows that the reason for this is because the closer Kara comes to her the more Kryptonite she is exposed to, having packed the area surrounding her chair with the most dense quantity of Green K in order to ensure she wasn't 'rescued' before Kara was forced to reveal herself, so the effects increase the closer Kara manages to drag herself. 

** **

“It's too dangerous. You need to save yourself!” Watching the tortuous way Kara is fighting through the pain she is in, her entire body now pulsing with the damage her prolonged exposure to the Green K is wreaking on her, Lena can't help but find her resolve to stay angry at the duplicitous woman weakening. 

** **

“I'm.... not... leaving.... without...... you. We... go.... together... or...” 

** **

Each word is panted out in time to a half step forward, Kara's progress now whittled down to baby steps across the expanse between them, but before she can say anymore she comes into range of the next set of Kryptonite crystals and collapses to the floor with a sharp cry of pain as a bolt of white hot pain shoots through her nervous system. 

** **

“KARA!” 

** **

The name is torn from her lips before she can stop it, as the sheer amount of pain the invincible woman is suffering right in front of her eyes is not something Lena's had planned for, and she feels shame well inside her for not thinking Kara might go as far as this. 

** **

The Kryptonite had been meant to stop Kara from turning up at all, and the nanobots to make her leave as soon she felt the first effects of Green K should she be stupid enough to attempt a rescue.

** **

Yet here she is. Dropped low by the vastness of her suffering, and STILL attempting to crawl her way closer to Lena. 

** **

“Kara, you need to turn around and move away from me”. The pleading note in Lena's voice is genuine this time, as she is now truly scared she may end up killing her former best friend by accident. “You are getting worse the closer you get to me, which means there must be more Kryptonite near me. If you keep coming towards me, you'll die”. 

** **

Struggling to propel herself forward, Kara is hauling herself along the concrete floor in a messy commando crawl using her elbows, but pauses for a moment to heave in some deep lungfuls of air and looks up at Lena with a watery smile. “You're my best friend, Lena. If saving your life requires me giving up mine, then I'm happy to make that trade”. 

** **

Tears well up in Lena's eyes at that. At the way Kara is looking at her, smiling – actually smiling despite the tremendous amount of pain she is suffering – that little soft smile Lena used to like to think was just  _ hers _ , with all the warmth she'd come to associate with the sunny woman shining in her eyes. 

** **

“No! Don't say that Kara, please!” 

** **

Shaking her head furiously, Lena desperately wants Kara to take back her words. For if they turn out to be the last words she ever hears from the Superhero, Lena knows they will haunt her for the rest of her days. 

** **

“You might not see it, but I always have been”. Groaning as she drags herself along, Kara inches closer to the tied up woman. “This world can do without Supergirl, but it NEEDS Lena Luthor”. 

** **

The words strike Lena dumb, and all she can do is stare at the floundering hero in mute stupefaction as she tries to process why she would say such a thing now, of all times. It is only when Kara heaves a hand off the floor with a loud grunt of effort that Lena snaps out of her daze, and she sees that the beleaguered superhero has finally drawn close enough to start hauling herself from the ground using the chair she is tied to as leverage. 

** **

“Help has.... finally arrived”. Sweating and puffing with the effort it requires from her depleted strength, Kara managed to rise up onto her knees and gazes up at Lena with a lopsided smile. “Sorry it took a while”. 

** **

Brows drawn together as she gazes down into the face of the struggling Super, Lena feel sick with worry at what she sees. 

** **

Kara skin is pasty and white, almost translucent in its ethereal paleness, and it makes the green standing out in her veins even more ominous in contrast. The beat of her heart is slow now, the sluggish way the Green K pulses through her veins indicative of this, and it makes Lena's own speed up with fear in response. Instinctively Lena's hand rises to cup the face before her, to soothe the brow beaded with sweat and trace that familiar jawline, yet the clink of metal as her wrist is prevented from moving more than an inch or so reminds her of her predicament. 

** **

The noise draws Kara's eyes, which had been locked onto Lena's face reverentially, down to where her arms are secured with handcuffs, and she slips her fingers around them experimentally. 

** **

“These are some old school baddies huh?” A small, hiccupy laugh that makes it sound like Kara has a nasty chest infection rattles from the kneeling woman's mouth, and she glances back up at the Lena for a moment. “Well, at least we know they won't be booby-trapped”. 

** **

Lena attempts a smile too, but it comes out ashen. 

** **

She had picked handcuffed as they were so low tech, so the opposite of her style, that she knew she'd never be linked to them, but made a great visual on screen. Once the time frame she had set for Supergirl to reveal her identity and 'free her' had expired, Lena had planned for a time activated drone to fly in and deliver the keys to the cuffs.

** **

Yet now she wonders if she will be left with a dead Super at her feet until that time, because Kara looks so weak she seems unable to free a kitten from a ball of twine, let alone titanium grade handcuffs. 

** **

“Kara, you need to get away from me, do you hear?” Wishing she had never come up with this plan, as her quest for vengeance has seemingly led her down the path to murder instead, Lena implores the woman in front of her with every fiber left in her jaded heart. “You don't have the strength to break through the cuffs, and you're getting weaker every second you're with me”.

** **

Reaching up with a shaky hand, Kara delves trembling fingers into Lena's hair and plucks a hairpin from the tight bun the CEO had tied it in this morning. Grinning impishly, she brandishes it triumphantly at the seated woman. “I might not have my strength, or my heat vision, but I'm more than just my powers”. 

** **

As she bends to work on the cuffs around Lena's ankles the surprising Super misses the astonished look Lena sends her way, but does hear her question. “You know how to pick locks?”

** **

“You have met my sister, right?” Chuckling despite the pain it sends spiraling through her body, Kara is glad Lena can't see the way she winces as shards of pain, like ripping metal through flesh, tear at her insides. 

** **

Done with the cuffs around both ankles in less than two minutes, even without super-speed, Kara raises her head to eagerly get started on the ones around Lena's wrists, but then has to make a desperate grasp at the chair when she finds herself go so light-headed she almost passes out. 

** **

“Kara! Are you okay?” 

** **

Brows knitted together as she fights the urge to throw up, and with the thick sting of bile in the back of her throat burning as harshly as the rest of her body, Kara is rather slow to become aware that the object she had grabbed in her desperate attempt to not hit the floor is not, in fact, the chair like she'd aimed for, but the rather firm thigh of her best friend instead. However, the moment she realizes that her hand is clinging to said thigh; fingers spread wide and nails digging in to anchor her securely, Kara's eyes go wide and she releases her grip so suddenly that she almost sends herself sprawling again. 

** **

“Oh my God, Lena. I'm SO sorry!” Eyes full of apology turn up towards the dark haired woman, and in a voice filled with contrition she asks. “Did I hurt you?”

** **

It is a simple question, yet one so laden with meaning that Lena could have presented an entire TedTalk on the subject and not have got even half way through all her issues. 

** **

** _YES_ ** she wants to scream. 

** **

You hurt me. You broke me. You took my heart and crushed it into a thousand pieces. 

** **

Your lies made me reevaluate our entire friendship – the ONE thing I relied on as true in my life – and now I don't know how to move on. I needed you to feel the same pain I do, to try and make you understand just how much damage you did to my very soul, which is why I came up with this whole plan; yet even as you kneel there in more physical pain than I could ever imagine, pain I caused, you are concerned whether  _ I'm  _ the one that hurting! 

** **

It's too much for Lena, and a tear slips out of the corner of her eye to roll slowly down her cheek. “No, Kara. You didn't hurt me”. 

** **

“Oh, thank Rao!” The relief on Kara's face is unmistakable, and it loosens something in Lena's chest that she doesn't have time to analyze just yet. 

** **

Turning to the task of freeing Lena's wrists, Kara works slowly but steadily as she has to keep correcting for the trembling of her own hands, and after five minutes she has both cuffs unlocked. 

** **

“There. I told you it would be a piece of.... cake..” 

** **

Catching the swooning Super under her armpits before she can crash to the floor, Lena stands and awkwardly shuffles them about until she is in a better position to move around the body she stopped from hitting the deck. Quickly scooping the passed out Superhero into her arms, Lena then strides towards the exit she knows contains the least amount of Kryptonite. 

** **

The further away from the center she move the less of an impact Lena sees the Kryptonite having on Kara's body, and by the time she is approaching the exit she is thankful to feel the woman in her arms stir slightly. “Le…. Lena...?” 

** **

“It's okay Kara, you're safe now”. 

** **

Without really thinking about it Lena drops a kiss onto the top of blonde hair, her mind now fixed on explaining things to Alex when she arrives with the DEO, but she is brought out of her thoughts when she hears a wistful sigh and feels the body in her arms curl closer into her chest in response. “Lena Kieran Luthor, you are  _ my _ hero”. 

** **

That has Lena at a loss for words, and so she remains quiet as she makes her way out of the building and finds a patch of grass, well away from any possible contamination that could leak from the warehouse the Green K is in, to settle the pair of them onto. 

** **

Borrowing Kara's earpiece so that she can alert Alex to their location, Lena has a brief, hurried conversation with the worried woman -whom profusely thanks her for saving her sisters life – before the pair are left in silence once again. 

** **

“How?” 

** **

After several minutes of silence; in which Kara has remains curled up in Lena's arms and the formerly furious CEO has continued to stroke soothing patterns along her the weak hero's back, the question that has been bubbling in Lena's mind ever since the Girl of Steel landed in the facility finally escapes. 

** **

“That building is lead-lined so there is no way your x-ray vision worked, and I was knocked out for most of my time there so you couldn't have heard me (Lena had purposefully remained silent the entire time for this reason).  **How ** did you find me?”

** **

“This”. Smiling softly, her head cushioned on Lena's shoulder as she lay in her lap, Kara lifts her left hand and places it gently on the dark haired woman's chest. Feeling the strong, steady, beat that had guided her through the mass of noise and confusion thump reassuringly beneath her palm, Kara whispers her answer as her throat still feels raw from her exposure to the Kryptonite. “Ever since the time you fell asleep at my place, when we had our first girls night together, I knew that I couldn't risk losing you, Lena, because you meant so much to me”.

** **

“My heart? I don't... I don't understand”. Her own throat tight with emotion, Lena feels the muscle in question speed up at Kara's quiet explanation. “How....?” 

** **

“I spent that night learning the rhythm of your heartbeat in case I ever needed to find you. Then practiced listening for it, no matter where in the world you were, until I could pick you out of a crowd of seven billion hearts”. 

** **

****

** **

“She loves you”. 

** **

The words, said as a statement of fact by the calm disembodied voice, pull Lena out of the haze she had drifted into as she'd recalled the events of that day. “I beg your pardon?”

** **

“I said, she loves you”. 

** **

“Have you blown one of your circuits?” Hope's neutral tone doesn't help to soften the blow of the shocking words, and Lena turns to stare at the high tech oscillating lava lamp on her desk with her jaw practically touching her chest. “Explain to me exactly  _ how _ you came to such a preposterous idea”. 

** **

“I searched every piece of data, public or otherwise, for similar behaviors to those you described Kara Danvers displaying. I found the most matches in romantic movies, books, and poems; where the person displaying the actions you referenced loves the person they are attempting to save”. 

** **

“Kara's not.... She isn't......” 

** **

“Most often the protagonist is in love with the person they are trying to save, but I also found a number of instances where a familial love was the driving agent behind the person’s actions”. As if sensing her creators confusion, Hope seeks to clarify further with her. “You said that after you carried Kara Danvers out of the building you cradled her in your arms until help arrived, which would be similar to the way a parent holds a child, would it not? Could it be that Kara Danvers sees you as a mother figure, and that's why she attempted your rescue?”

** **

Almost swallowing her tongue as she splutters in shock, Lena feels the urge to recycle her state of the art AI into a paper-clip. “N.... no.... of course not! We had a friendship, not a mother daughter....ship!”

** **

“Speaking of ships, I found a common story amongst a particular set of writers. About people that have feelings for one another but hide it for fear of irrevocably damaging the friendship, so I took the liberty of accessing some L-Corps archived CCTV data and analyzed the footage I found”. 

** **

“You did what?” Standing up to march over to her AI's base unit, as if by towering over it she could somehow intimidate the inanimate object like it was one of her board members, Lena glares down at it with a furious scowl. 

** **

“I collated all the footage of you interacting with Kara Danvers, whether she was portraying herself or her alter-ego Supergirl, and analyzed them using body language data I gleaned from the best in their fields”. 

** **

“Body language data?” Still scowling at the infuriating device, Lena is nevertheless intrigued by where this might be headed. “What were you looking for?”

** **

“Signs of flirting”. Although she knows it is impossible to do as she designed the AI to have one smooth tone at all times, Lena is almost sure she can hear a hint of amusement in Hope's voice. “It seems that while the biggest secret Kara Danvers was hiding was indeed that she was Supergirl, there was another secret you failed to pick up on as well”. 

** **

“What?”

** **

Feeling her cheeks heat up as the screen on the tablet next to her lights up with footage taken during one of the many lunches when Kara had brought food to her office, Lena stares in wordless wonder as, while the screen version of her has her back turned to retrieve something or other from her desk, Kara gazes at her with a look of unfiltered adoration clear on her face. 

** **

The look is unmistakable, as she has seen a mirror image of it painted on Alex's face every time she had spotted her with Kelly recently, and it makes Lena's heart thump loudly in her chest. 

** **

The look disappears the second the her on screen turns back to face Kara, replaced with a more sedate expression of joviality appropriate for someone looking at a 'friend', and Lena find herself missing it instantly. “Is this the only instance?”

** **

“Of course not, Miss Luthor. An accurate diagnosis requires as many pieces of evidence as possible”. 

** **

What follows is a series of clips; taken from CCTV in L-Corp, Noonans, Catco, the DEO, gala events, press junkets, and many more places she is pretty sure are on privately owned networks, that show Kara making moon eyes at Lena every time the blonde haired superhero believes she can't be seen. 

** **

“While it seems Kara Danvers may not have flirted at all, she was still.... I believe 'yearning' is the correct term, after you”. 

** **

“All this time, she.... she  _ liked _ me?” A rolling wave of dread sinks into the pit of Lena's stomach, telling her that she has once again been a fool, only this time by playing into Lex's hands from the afterlife. 

** **

In response Hope flashes up a new set of images, once more with the pair in a series of situations together, but this time of Lena actively flirting with Kara. “It seems that the attraction wasn't one sided either”. 

** **

Dropping her head into her hands, Lena lets out a low groan as she finally wakes up to the fact that the real reason she had been so hurt by Kara's deception was because she had been halfway in love with the charming reporter. “Oh, Hope. I've really made a mess of everything haven't I?” 

** **

“There are people we call to clean up messes. Shall I find a number for you?” 

** **

“This isn't something that just anyone can clean up. I'm afraid I'm going to have to untangle this mess myself”. Laughing ruefully, Lena lifts her head and stares at the eternally helpful AI. “But you  _ can _ get me the number for the most highly recommended florist in National City”. 

** **

“A florist, Miss Luthor? Is this part of the amended: Make Kara Pay, plan?”

** **

“Scrap that plan Hope, I have a new one”. Sitting up straight as a determination settles within her, Lena looks at her AI with renewed vigor. “We're calling this one Operation: Win The Girl”.

**Author's Note:**

> This idea (from watching a clip of the Flash of all things) popped into my head and wouldn't leave me alone so I started writing, and THIS came out. 
> 
> THIS is not the story I had in mind! 
> 
> Still, I rolled with it, and I hope you like. 
> 
> Let me know what you think. 
> 
> Comments and Kudos are greatly appreciated.  
Please come and chat xx


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